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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it Ukraine

Let PP be a polynomial with integer coefficients of degree dd. For the set A={a1,a2,,ak}A = \{a_1, a_2, \dots, a_k\} of positive integers denote S(A)=P(a1)+P(a2)++P(ak)S(A) = P(a_1) + P(a_2) + \dots + P(a_k). The positive integers m,nm, n are such that md+1nm^{d+1} \mid n. Prove that the set {1,2,,n}\{1, 2, \dots, n\} can be split into mm disjoint subsets A1,A2,,AmA_1, A_2, \dots, A_m of equal size such that S(A1)=S(A2)==S(Am)S(A_1) = S(A_2) = \dots = S(A_m).
(Klurman Oleksiy)

Solution

Let n=kmd+1n = k m^{d+1}. We will construct the desired splitting in the following way. To determine which of the subsets each number x{1;2;n}x \in \{1; 2; \dots n\} belongs to, let us write x1x - 1 in the form:
x1=cmd+1+x0+x1m+x2m2++xdmd, x - 1 = c m^{d+1} + x_0 + x_1 m + x_2 m^2 + \dots + x_d m^d,
where c0c \ge 0 is an integer, xi{0;1;m1}x_i \in \{0; 1; \dots m-1\}, i=0,,di = 0, \dots, d, i.e. we write the remainder of x1x-1 divided by md+1m^{d+1} in base mm numeral system. We include the number xx to subset AjA_j, j{1;2;m}j \in \{1; 2; \dots m\} if x0+x1+x2++xdj(modm)x_0 + x_1 + x_2 + \dots + x_d \equiv j \pmod m. Let us show that such splitting satisfies the condition. Clearly, it is enough to prove our statement for polynomials of the form P(x)=xtP(x) = x^t, t=0,,dt = 0, \dots, d.

We have
S(Aj)=c=0k1j(cmd+1+x0+x1m+x2m2++xdmd)t, S(A_j) = \sum_{c=0}^{k-1} \sum_j (c m^{d+1} + x_0 + x_1 m + x_2 m^2 + \dots + x_d m^d)^t,
where j\sum_j denotes the sum over all tuples x0,,xdx_0, \dots, x_d of numbers from the set {0;1;m1}\{0; 1; \dots m-1\} such that x0+x1+x2++xdj(modm)x_0 + x_1 + x_2 + \dots + x_d \equiv j \pmod m. Let us show that the inner sum does not depend on jj. Denoting z=1+cmd+1z = 1 + c m^{d+1}, we can transform it by expanding the brackets:
j(cmd+1+x0+x1m+x2m2++xdmd)t=dt!u!t0!t1!td!zumt1+2t2++dtdjx0t0x1t1xdtd, \sum_j (c m^{d+1} + x_0 + x_1 m + x_2 m^2 + \dots + x_d m^d)^t = \sum_d \frac{t!}{u! t_0! t_1! \dots t_d!} z^u m^{t_1 + 2 t_2 + \dots + d t_d} \sum_j x_0^{t_0} x_1^{t_1} \dots x_d^{t_d},
where d\sum_d denotes the sum over all tuples of non-negative integers u,t0,,tdu, t_0, \dots, t_d such that u+t0++td=tu + t_0 + \dots + t_d = t. Since t0++tdt<d+1t_0 + \dots + t_d \le t < d+1, there is at least one number among t0,,tdt_0, \dots, t_d which equals zero. Suppose that t0=0t_0 = 0, then
jx0t0x1t1xdtd=jx1t1xdtd=x1,,xd=0m1x1t1xdtd, \sum_j x_0^{t_0} x_1^{t_1} \dots x_d^{t_d} = \sum_j x_1^{t_1} \dots x_d^{t_d} = \sum_{x_1, \dots, x_d = 0}^{m-1} x_1^{t_1} \dots x_d^{t_d},
because for any tuple x1,,xdx_1, \dots, x_d of numbers from {0;1;m1}\{0; 1; \dots m-1\} there is a unique number x0{0;1;m1}x_0 \in \{0; 1; \dots m-1\} for which x0+x1+x2++xdj(modm)x_0 + x_1 + x_2 + \dots + x_d \equiv j \pmod m. The last sum is clearly independent of jj, which is what we wanted to prove.

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